The new economic sociology : a reader / edited by Frank Dobbin.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dobbin, Frank.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economics--Sociological aspects.

Economics.

Physical Description:

vii, 565 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2004]

Summary:

Economic sociology is a rapidly expanding field, applying sociology's core insight -- that individuals behave according to scripts that are tied to social roles -- to economic behavior. It places homo economicus (that tried-and-true fictive actor who is completely rational, acts only out of self-interest, and has perfect information) in context. In this way, it places a construct into a framework that more closely approximates the world in which we live. But, as an academic field, economic sociology has lost focus. The New Economic Sociology remedies this. The book comprises twenty of the most representative and widely read articles in the field's history -- its classics -- and organizes them according to four themes at the heart of sociology: institutions, networks, power, and cognition. Dobbin's substantial and engagingly written introduction (including his rich comparison of Yanomamo chest-beaters and Wall Street bond-traders) sets a clear framework for what follows. Gathering force throughout is Dobbin's argument that economic practices emerge through distinctly social processes, in which social networks and power resources play roles in the social construction of certain behaviors as rational or optimal. Not only does Dobbin provide a consummate introduction to the field and its history to students approaching the subject for the first time, but he also establishes a schema for interpreting the field based on an understanding of what economic sociology aims to achieve.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Sociological View of the Economy / Frank Dobbin 1

Institutions

Chapter 2 From The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism / Max Weber 49

Chapter 3 Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony / John W. Meyer, Brian Rowan 86

Chapter 4 The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields / Paul J. DiMaggio, Walter W. Powell 111

Chapter 5 From Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children / Viviana A. Zelizer 135

Chapter 6 The Social Construction of Organizations and Markets: The Comparative Analysis of Business Recipes / Richard Whitley 162

Chapter 7 The Decline and Fall of the Conglomerate Firm in the 1980s: The Deinstitutionalization of an Organizational Form / Gerald F. Davis, Kristina A. Diekmann, Catherine H. Tinsley 188

Networks

Chapter 8 From The Division of Labor in Society / Emile Durkheim 227

Chapter 9 Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness / Mark Granovetter 245

Chapter 10 Embeddedness and Immigration: Notes on the Social Determinants of Economic Action / Alejandro Portes, Julia Sensenbrenner 274

Chapter 11 A Structural Approach to Markets / Eric M. Leifer, Harrison C. White 302

Chapter 12 From Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition / Ronald S. Burt 325

Chapter 13 Embeddedness in the Making of Financial Capital: How Social Relations and Networks Benefit Firms Seeking Financing / Brian Uzzi 349

Power

Chapter 14 From The German Ideology / Karl Marx 387

Chapter 15 From The Transformation of Corporate Control / Neil Fligstein 407

Chapter 16 From Socializing Capital: The Rise of the Large Industrial Corporation in America / William G. Roy 433

Chapter 17 From City of Capital: Politics and Markets in the English Financial Revolution / Bruce G. Carruthers 457

Cognition

Chapter 18 From The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life / Emile Durkheim 485

Chapter 19 From The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge / Peter L. Berger, Thomas Luckmann 496

Chapter 20 From Organizations: Cognitive Limits on Rationality / James G. March, Herbert A. Simon 518

Chapter 21 From Sensemaking in Organizations / Karl E. Weick 533.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

069104905X

0691049068

OCLC:

52799173